Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has vowed to shame social media companies into granting law enforcement agencies access to encrypted messaging services.
Minister Peter Dutton has accused social media giants including Google, Facebook and Apple of protecting pedophiles and promised to “shame” companies into changing their ways.
The home affairs minister is heading to Washington as he continues his crusade against the circulation of child pornography.
Dutton and security ministers from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance—comprising the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand—are demanding tech giants allow backdoor access to encrypted content.
“These companies are really pushing back but we’ve got to stand up to them because the rules that apply in our towns and cities should apply online,” he told 2GB radio on Thursday before boarding a plane to Washington.
“If you’ve got a photograph of a child being sexually abused, the police can see that with a warrant, but if you send that picture as an attachment on an encrypted messaging app then police can’t discover it.
“It doesn’t make sense because we can stop children becoming victim to a paedophile,” Dutton said.
“We can’t allow the proliferation online that’s taking place and it’s doubled in the last 12 months.
“The number of cases where this child abuse material is being shared online—there are groups where pedophiles are meeting online, protected by these companies—it can’t stand.”
Dutton is dumbfounded the companies are resisting his calls.
“They say it undermines their business model, believe it or not,” he said.
“We’re shaming these companies into action.”
